Garnet industry application
There are many significant garnet-producing countries. Noteworthy among them are Australia, China, and India, all of which export significant amounts of garnet. Russia and Turkey also produce large amounts of industrial garnet, but they are not yet exporting much of this material.
Garnet is ground to a variety of sizes to be used as an abrasive. Garnet sandpaper was the original application of this mineral.
It is also used to make a number of similar products, including sanding belts, discs, and strips. Today, the vast majority of garnet is used as an abrasive blasting material, for water filtration, in a process called water jet cutting, and to make abrasive powders.
Garnet is found in Africa, Brazil, Canada, India, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, and the USA (Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Virginia). In the United States, only a few companies in three states (Idaho, New York, and Montana) produce garnet for industrial use.
A number of natural and synthetic materials could be used in place of garnet for abrasive purposes. The natural materials include the minerals staurolite, quartz, diamond and corundum. The synthetic materials include fused aluminum oxide and silicon carbide…
Only iron garnet, almandine and to a lesser extent, glosularite are used in the manufacture of abrasive like coated garnet paper and cloth and discs glued with sodium silicate. The common bonding materials used for the manufacture of discs are magnesium oxide and magnesium chloride.